"Playing With" Pay Phones

Why

At the time of writing, the "Do Not Call" List was coming into effect and telemarketers were attempting to collect numbers of people who had contact with their clients, either directly or through incoming calls to toll-free numbers. Significantly, pay phones were fairly common.

The (US) Federal "Do Not Call" List
creates a need for telemarketers need to collect telephone numbers of people
who have had some contact with their clients. Toll-free numbers often
are used for collecting such phone numbers.

Like any list of numbers, their list is only as good as the source data.
"Junk" numbers have a potential to inhibit such a
"targeted" victim list. Working pay phones (where available) make great
"junk" phone numbers.

But the real reasons are:

It's fun.

It's effective.

It helps people.

It's childish.

Other "Junk" Numbers

Other "junk" numbers are:

fax numbers (another nearly-extinct item)

Since these are typically known to the customer, fax numbers make good "home phone" reference numbers for customer accounts.)

any number which always goes to a "voicemail hell" menu

Pacific Island and Caribean phone numbers in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP)

The Logic

They typically are answered by live people, which means that the calls are
handed off to live telemrketing operators.

The "victims" are generally amused by the call.

The "victim" can generally waste at least a small amount of time.

It can also be mildly amusing to the flunky making the call.

The telescum have the opportunity to make calls which are unlikely
to interrupt someone's meal, sleep, or other aspect of their lives. They
aren't even invading someone's home.

It's nice to have your own personal answering service to handle telescum
calls.

If You Get Caught

If you get caught taking down the phone numbers of pay phones, very
quickly come up with some plausible excuse. Think quickly ... something like,
"I'm getting the number from the pay phone so I can give it to
telemarketers." (They may not believe this story, but it will give you
time to escape.)

Collecting Pay Phone Numbers

It's possible to jot them down, but The Telemarketing Scum Page has
people who do that for you! Go to www.payphone-directory.org, or
search for <payphone list>. Note that some of the phones listed may have been removed.

Pacific Island Telephone Numbers

The North American Numbering Plan (NANP) includes several countries which incur
international toll call rates. These numbers do not require country codes when
dialing from North American phones. In addition to the Carribean, three US
Commonwealth countries in the Pacific have been added to the NANP:

Guam (area code 671)

Northern Marianas (area code 670)

American Samoa (area code 684)

In addition, calls to places like Whitehorse, YT (867-660-xxxx,
867-667-xxxx, 867-668-xxxx) and St. Vincent (area code 784) are good for this.

The costs of these calls vary, but these are often charged at excessive prices.

Pick a few and use them for businesses that collect numbers but don't disclose
their purpose!

"800" Calls Concerning Existing Accounts

"Please Key In Your Account Number" - Automated Data
Collection

The purpose is usually to associate an account with a phone number and not to
expedite service.

Inbound autoresponders are frequently programmed to request an account number
at the onset of the call. This is done for various reasons, all related to
automatic processing:

The stated purpose is to expedite processing.

This is rarely the case, as indicate by the operator asking for the account
number again. Obviously the opening statement is deceptive, so consider
yourself forewarned. (If asked to provide extraneous
information later, tell them that you don't trust the company with the data
because of the deceptive statements used in their autoresponders.)

Legitimate automated call processing

If automated services are offered and the automated services are fed the
account number, then at least there is a legitimate service which uses the
data. This is generally coupled with a request to confirm the authenticity of
the account (i.e., some form of identification). The legitimate purpose
doesn't preclude unstated uses, however.

Phone number collecting

If automated equipment is used to collect a phone number associated with
the account (without stating this as the purpose), you will be asked for the
same information by the operator.

In all cases, if data is being collected for undisclosed purposes, the
collection cannot be called legitimate. In general, deceptive
descriptions are used. Legitimate data collection is fully disclosed in
a manner which results in the target fully understand why they're being asked
to provide data and for what purpose it is being collected.

"800" Calls - Responding to Automated Data Collection

If you are not sure the automated collection of data is legitimate or fully
disclosed, change the last few digits of the account number (unless the number
you are calling from has no significance). If the automated response is
necessary, the equipment will let you know of the mismatch and you can try
again.

Obviously this is more significant if you have a confidential or unlisted
number.

Miscellaneous Notes

Choose a pay phone which doesn't disturb the host business when it rings. The
idea is to let the telemarketers call people who will be mildly amused by the
call; not to irritate someone who is trying to get through a workday.
i.e., choose an outdoor phone or one in a generally public place like a train
station.

The Federal "Do Not Call" List doesn't include names, but
if you're filling in something which you suspect is a phone number collection
ploy, you may want to be creative as to name. Examples:

something drug-related

something gamboling related

something related to the telephone's location

a name that sounds like something at the location

something fun

The idea is it should be fun and entertaining for the person answering the
pay phone.